taken hostage by local staff in Ethiopia +NEW DELHI: Employees of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS)fear for their safety, with some being confined to a company campus north of the African nation's capital Addis Ababa.India has asked Ethiopian authorities to investigate and help the seven Indian IL&FS employees who say they are being held by local staff due to non-payment of salaries by the debt-laden firm, a government official said on Saturday.A group of four employees has not been allowed to leave an IL&FS campus in Bure town, 400 km (250 miles) north from Addis Ababa, since November 24, said store manager Nagaraju Bishnu, one of the employees held hostage.Two other IL&FS employees were held hostage by local staff in the town of Woliso and one in Nekemte town, both of which are west of the Ethiopian capital, Bishnu told Reuters by telephone. "The main gate is locked, they are observing our movement," said 26-year-old Bishnu, speaking of the situation at Bure. "They've told us until they get their salaries, we can't move from here ... We are facing sleepless nights. "We are doing our best to ensure a settlement of this matter," said the official, who declined to be identified.An IL&FS spokesman in India, Sharad Goel, declined to comment. "After tomorrow, there will be no drinking water," he said.Some of the seven employees being held have been posting messages on social media website Twitter, asking politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the foreign minister to intervene.Neeraj Raghuwanshi, who said he was one of the seven, late on Friday wrote an "SOS" message on Twitter saying: "Situations are beyond our control, please #help before mishappening."

Source: Ethiopian News December 01, 2018 14:24 UTC